WEST FACING ROOMS:The quality of natural lighting West Facing rooms varies in the opposite way to East Rooms in that it is cooler in the morning and warmer in the afternoon and evening. Since they generally get more light throughout the day, you they respond well to white or light coloured walls. I suggest white/light colours if you want to create a feeling of airiness and spaciousness, and especially if you use your West room in the afternoon because the warmer natural light at that time of day will reflect wonderfully off a lighter colour of wall. However if you want to add a little more colour then consider colours that fall in the red spectrum; anything from pale pink/neutrals to mid toned terra cotta's to deeper shades of burgundy. Again, take into consideration the purpose for which your West room is used, and consider your personality and the overall feeling you wish to create which is appropriate to you and/or the preferences of those with whom you share the space.If your home is more open-plan and you have a room or rooms which are open to one another from the West to the East of your home, you may need to ensure that the colour chosen for one space also works in the other. However if your West/East room or area has a logical point at which differing paint colours can be started/stopped then you may want to consider painting different/complimentary colours in the West/East spaces. A good example of this is shown in the photograph below. The 'clay' colour could be on the west side of the space and the 'leaf' colour could be on the East side of the space. In this example the green tone in the east end of the space has enough warm undertones in it which help it to blend nicely with the warmer red/orange of the clay colour on the West. Image provided courtesy of Yolo Colorhouse. www.yolocolorhouse.com

Author

Kevin Gray is a residential interiors specialist, who has more than 20 years experience in the interior and architectural design industry.

He loves sharing his knowledge and experience, through writing and speaking about it and by instructing at the post secondary college level, in addition to working with private clients on a wide variety of design projects.

Kevin is based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, undertaking projects in Western Canada, the USA and Latin America